Cartoons spark fresh violence
2006-02-15 11:06
Peshawar - Protesters ransacked outlets of a Norwegian phone firm, a United States fast food restaurant and banks in northern Pakistan on Wednesday in fresh violence sparked by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in European newspapers.
Police fired tear gas in the towns of Peshawar, Tank and
Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier Province to disperse
angry crowds, a day after two people were killed in protests in
the eastern city of Lahore, witnesses said.
Police said at least one policeman was wounded in an
exchange of fire between police and protesters in Tank, which
is close to a tribal region bordering Afghanistan troubled by
battles between security forces and al Qaeda-linked militants.
Protesters in Peshawar attacked two franchises of the
Norwegian mobile telephone firm Telenor and also ransacked an
outlet of US fast food chain KFC, witnesses said.
The protests in the towns involved groups of several
hundred protesters. Several thousand took part in all.
In Tank, protesters also torched music shops and internet
cafes and local police chief Attiqullah, who uses only one
name, blamed supporters of Afghanistan's Taliban for the
violence.
"The protest was proceeding peacefully before armed
supporters of the Taliban penetrated and started firing at the
police and burning music shops," he told Reuters.
The protests in NWFP, which is ruled by an Islamist
coalition, came a day after neighbouring Punjab province banned
street protests after violence in its capital Lahore.
At least two people were shot dead by security guards of a
bank that came under attack in Lahore on Tuesday and police
arrested more than 250 young protesters after mobs set to fire
to two U.S. food franchises, banks and dozens of cars.
Diplomatic Enclave Stormed
On Tuesday, hundreds of mainly high school students stormed
into the closely guarded diplomatic enclave in the capital
Islamabad, forcing police to fire tear gas to disperse them.
The protests have been the most serious in Pakistan - the
second-most populous Muslim nation - since European newspapers
republished cartoons of the Prophet that first appeared in the
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September.
Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the
Prophet.
In Lahore, protesters attacked both the cartoons and plans
by US President George W Bush to visit Pakistan in early
March. Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi announced a
province-wide ban on marches, and warned that violators faced
"an iron hand".
- Reuters